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ADJUST THE TABLE AND GUIDES will be somewhat rough and prone to vibration, so it may not be suitable for resawing thin veneers, which are spoiled easily. If you plan to resaw veneers from thicker stock, you may want to use a variable-tooth, hook-type blade. The teeth on this blade are the same shape but vary in size, which results in less vibration. Ready the bandsaw for resawing Not only does resawing require the proper blade, but for consistent results and smooth cuts, it’s also critical to adjust the bandsaw. These adjustments must be made in the proper sequence. First mount, track, and tension the blade; then square the table to the blade and adjust the guides. Finally, if the fence on the machine is too short to support wide stock, build an auxiliary fence. Because resawing generates a lot of dust, use dust collection at the source as well as an ambient air cleaner. Increased blade tension produces flatter cuts—Resawing Make sure the blade is perpendicular to the table. Place a square against the side of the blade, and adjust the table until the sawblade is flush against the blade of the square. places a greater burden on a bandsaw blade because of the increased forces and the heat generated during the process. As the stock is fed into the blade, it places the front of the blade in compression and the back in tension. The combination of these opposing forces can cause the blade to buckle and spoil the workpiece. The best way to avoid this scenario and ensure smooth cuts of uniform thickness is to place the blade under lots of tension (15,000 psi is a good target) and employ a steady feed rate; don’t force the stock. The most accurate method for measuring tension is with a tension gauge, but this device costs around $300. If you don’t want to shell out that kind of cash, you’ll have to rely on your saw’s built-in tension scale. Unfortunately, most of these scales tend to provide a low reading, so I came up with a low-tech solution. Simply adjust the blade tension to the next mark on the scale; for instance, if you are using a 3⁄8-in.-wide blade, adjust the tension Adjust the guides. Guides should be 0.002 in. to 0.003 in. from the blade and should not touch the teeth. You have the right spacing if you can just slide a slip of paper between the guides and the blade (right). The same goes for the thrust bearing (far right), which shouldn’t spin until you begin to feed stock into the blade. 40 F I N E WO O DWO R K I N G Photos, this page (bottom): Kelly J. Dunton; drawings: Christopher Mills